Centerfold
by slythadri
Summary: Written for round seven of The Houses Competition Year 3. Sirius Black only wanted to help his friend James. How did he end up with his nose broken twice in two days?


Title: Centerfold

House: Slytherin

Position: Year 4

Category: Standard

Prompt: [Negative pairing] Sirius Black/James Potter

Additional requirement: Includes a letter or a note

Word count: 1379

Beta: DaronwyK

"Potter!"

The scream was definitely too loud for the library. Madam Pince snapped like a coil and looked at the redheaded girl, eyebrow lifted. The young witch snapped her mouth shut, but only nodded to the librarian. She was too angry to say sorry. She stood next to James Potter and shoved a booklet on his chest, making him lose the air in his lungs.

"If this is your idea of fun, you are messing with the wrong witch. I'm not even going to take points from our house for your stupidity. This is personal. I'm warning you." She turned on her heel, no explanation.

Sirius Black was hanging out by the lake, shooting fish with sting hexes and showing off for a group of fifth-year Ravenclaw girls that giggled every time he looked their way. He kept running his hand through his black hair, which would fall back over his face. His malicious grin was like catnip for the majority of the female population of the school, and he used it against his unsuspected victims as frequently as he could. The Gryffindor Prince, they called him, and he rejoiced in his title. He enjoyed the rumors and the innumerable notes that circulated around with his name on it. That warm September afternoon he was feeling very much pleased with himself. How not to, with such a handsome face, he mused. He heard footsteps on the grass and turned around to see who it was. Then there was pain and he saw black. He felt his body fall and he flopped on his butt, in a most ungracious way. When he opened his eyes he saw that the hand that he had instinctively brought to his nose was red with blood.

"How could you do this to me! You are supposed to be my friend! You are my brother! How could you!" yelled James Potter, hovering menacingly over his stunned friend. Then he threw something on Sirius' face, making his broken nose hurt again.

Sirius looked at the object and panicked. How did James get his hands on it? It was not even finished yet. And why, oh, why would he be so upset about it? This was a gift for him from his best friend, who was just trying to make him happy and give him a much-needed push.

He went to the hospital wing first; he would not trust any of his classmates to fix his patrician nose. Well, actually he would trust one classmate, but she probably will just crack his skull open and finish the job.

After Madam Pomfrey left him like new –and gave him a long speech about brawling- Sirius gathered his courage and headed back to Gryffindor tower. He had to confront James before this huge mess escalated and became an even bigger mess.

When he walked into the room that he shared with his gang, he found that James had closed the curtains of his four-poster bed and had warded it. Sirius sigh, knowing that his next action would make his friend even angrier, but he needed to talk to him. He pointed his wand to the curtains and said, " _Incendio_ "

A scream and a small commotion after, James was on his feet, now drenched because Sirius cast a powerful _Aquamenti_ to make sure the flames were contained. James looked so enraged that Sirius added one more spell

" _Petrificus Totalis_ "

With his hands in a posture that indicated that he was ready to go for Sirius' throat, James fell back on the bed, bouncing a couple of times. His friend used a _Levicorpus_ to reposition him on the bed, then sat next to him and said

"I will release you if you promise to stay calm. I know you are angry, but you have to let me explain. I'm going to release you now."

Sirius lift the spell and James sat back up very quickly but kept his hands to himself. Sirius spoke

"I made you this booklet because I know that you fancy her. Heck, you don't fancy her, you are in love with her. Like a fool. This is our final year of school and making your intentions clear is never going to be easier than now when you can see her every day and literally live in the same house." Then he lifted the controversial object and said, "this was meant for you to look at it and imagine the possibilities. So you can stop denying yourself the opportunity of being happy. Now, tell me, did you even looked at it? It has a dedication note and all."

James sigh. He took the booklet from Sirius and read the note on the cover

 _To James._

 _May your dreams be filled with happiness._

 _Now please admit that Evans is always in your dreams._

 _This will help you come to terms with that truth._

 _Padfoot._

With some hesitation, James opened the booklet. It was a collection of beautiful but very risqué drawings of a gorgeous witch with red hair and brilliant green eyes. The outfits were very provocative, and always in a pinup style pose. Sirius was a big fan of muggle models, so he knew very well what a pinup was. And the masterpiece was a centerfold-style drawing of a very naked Lily Evans, who would start by giving him her back in a coquette pose and then turned around and use her hands to cover her privates. The drawing even blushed a bit. The whole thing was a magnificent piece of art like only Sirius could make. James finally gave him a shy smile. Sirius said

"Now tell me you do not see yourself married to her."

James sighed.

"Well, I think the odds of her even talking to me now are none. How did she get her hands on this?"

Sirius shook his head

"No idea. It was on my desk, hidden beneath a pile of books. I think the only one that saw me rushing to hide it once was Wormtail. This was meant for your eyes only, so I kept it under wraps. Since I dedicated it to you but signed it as Padfoot, probably Evans could only identify you and went for the kill. I'm sorry about that."

James shrugged. No point on crying over spilled milk.

The next day Sirius decided to take the situation into his own hands. He found Evans reading under a tree in one of the inner courtyards. He approached, sat next to her and surrendered his wand as a gesture of good faith. He had not mentioned anything to his friend, but at that moment James was walking through one of the inner corridors and saw them. He stopped dead. He saw Sirius surrender his wand. Then he gave Evans the booklet and spoke for a few minutes. Then Evans punched him in the face and walked away. James hid behind a column when she stormed by, then went to fetch Sirius. His friend was holding his broken nose for the second time in a week.

"What did you say to her?"

"Just trust me, please. Now, walk me to the hospital wing?"

James sigh and took his friend to Madam Pomfrey, and even sat through the brawl speech.

That night, James wanted some alone time, so he sat in front of the fire in the common room after everyone went to bed. After about a half hour, someone sat on the arm of his chair. He lifted his eyes and found Lily Evans' green ones looking at him. She had a shy smile on her face. She had the booklet in her hand.

"Black told me what he did. He also told me why he did it. And that you didn't know anything about it."

James nodded. She continued,

"The drawings are really good. They make me look good," she said with a hint of maliciousness in her face. "Maybe I'll keep it. And as for you, Potter, maybe if you ask me out like a gentleman and things go well, you might see it again."

"Dinner. Tomorrow. Hogsmeade. I'll wait for you here at five thirty," he said, hiding the tremor of his hands.

She nodded and smiled

"See you tomorrow, James Potter."


End file.
